Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A police officer detains a youth who had taken goods from quake-damaged stores in Port-au-Prince, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010. Haitian police officials fear that gang leaders who escaped from prisons damaged in last week's earthquake are filling the void left by Haiti's decimated police and U.N. peacekeepers struggling to provide aid. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

So why all the hype over looting -ah they played this trick during Hurican Katrina-security more important than saving lives.Haiti: UN Truck Dumping bodies into mass graves- 70,000 buried in mass graves

Gang members in Haitian slum profit from disasterA police officer detains a youth who had taken goods from quake-damaged stores in Port-au-Prince, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010. Haitian police officials fear that gang leaders who escaped from prisons damaged in last week's earthquake are filling the void left by Haiti's decimated police and U.N. peacekeepers struggling to provide aid. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Mass Graves 100,000 - 200,000 Dead *George Bush and Bill Clinton have proved over the years that they are not friends of Haiti.

*Why is the US holding back the aid -because they are incompetent , or the systems broken, or to be able to exert more control over the Haitian people*American major military presence in Haiti-more guns than food

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- "If you don't kill the criminals, they will all come back," a Haitian police officer shouts over a loudspeaker in the country's most notorious slum, imploring citizens to take justice into their own hands.

The call for vigilantes comes as influential gang leaders who escaped from a heavily damaged prison during the country's killer earthquake are taking advantage of a void left by police and peacekeepers focused on disaster relief.

In the sprawling Cite Soleil slum, gangsters are settling into the haunts they dominated before being locked up and resuming struggles for control that never really ended once they were inside the walls of the city's notorious main penitentiary.

"The trouble is starting," said Jean-Semaine Delice, a 51-year-old father from Cite Soleil. "People are starting to leave their homes to go to others."

Video: More Troops, Aid to Haiti but Desperation Grows The Associated Press

Desperation in Haiti- Looting'A frenzy of looting' seen in Haiti's capitalJanuary 19, 2010

Anderson Cooper-CNNReports of looting have escalated in the days since Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, leaving the capital in chaos as emergency aid workers and authorities scramble to help.

"People are actually stealing this, then will sell it later, and then they'll use that money for their families," Cooper reported.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he wanted to increase the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti with 1,500 additional police and 2,000 peacekepping troops to better respond to the quake's aftermath. Ban says he has submitted his request to the U.N. Security Council.

No official death toll has been declared, but estimates range from 100,000 to 150,000 in Port-au-Prince alone.

Video: Looters sell food from rooftopAnderson Cooper-CNN Haiti

As with Katrina when is looting merely a matter of survival. If people take items of necessity food, water , candles etc. this is different from someone stealing a Television or a computer etc. But if some are taking items from stores and reselling them that is a criminal act but even more important is about as low as one can get morally though I'm sure many pro-capitalist would have to approve of such capitalistic initiative. I'm sure if Blackwater XE or other American mercenaries are in Haiti their CEOs are going to make sure they are well paid at extortionists rates . Erik Prince would allow his thugs into Haiti unless they are guaranteed a high-paying contract. They ain't going to do it for free. To give out food water and other necessities and medical care according to Neoconservatives and Neoliberals is just another form of evil socialism or Communist. This is why many Americans are still upset at the people in New Orleans and Louisiana who just in their view want "free money" and "free stuff". The Neocon way would be to have business people or private contractors sell the necessities to the Haitians at a good price that is profitable. As for Medical care the American way is "Show Me The Money" and then you'll get medical care.

Will Canadian troops and American troops start firing on people who are in such desperate conditions. Are those in charge of relief efforts too obsessed over security. It would seem the more aid delivered to people the fewer will be in such dire straits.

Twelve Canadians have been confirmed dead and 849 are still unaccounted for in Haiti since last week's devastating earthquake, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday afternoon.How to help

The number of confirmed dead is up from eight on Sunday, while the number of Canadians unaccounted for has dropped from 1,115. The number of Canadians located and accounted for has risen to 1,484 from Sunday's 1,122.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the situation in Haiti remained "fragile."

"We still face a large number of challenges," he said from Ottawa.

"We continue to do everything we can to locate all Canadians so they can rejoin families and friends here in Canada."

The Orwellian-named mercenary trade group, the International Peace Operations Association, didn’t waste much time in offering the “services” of its member companies to swoop down on Haiti for some old fashioned humanitarian assistance disaster profiteering. Within hours of the massive earthquake in Haiti, the IPOA created a special web page for prospective clients, saying: “In the wake of the tragic events in Haiti, a number of IPOA’s member companies are available and prepared to provide a wide variety of critical relief services to the earthquake’s victims.”

While some of the companies specialize in rapid housing construction, emergency relief shelters and transportation, others are private security companies that operate in Iraq and Afghanistan like Triple Canopy, the company that took over Blackwater’s massive State Department contract in Iraq. For years, Blackwater played a major role in IPOA until it left the group following the 2007 Nisour Square massacre.

In 2005, while still a leading member of IPOA, Blackwater’s owner Erik Prince deployed his forces in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Far from some sort of generous gift to the suffering people of the US gulf, Blackwater raked in some $70 million in Homeland Security contracts that began with a massive no-bid contract to provide protective services for FEMA. Blackwater billed US taxpayers $950 per man per day.

The current US program under which armed security companies work for the State Department in Iraq—the Worldwide Personal Protection Program—has its roots in Haiti during the Clinton administration. In 1994, private US forces, such as DynCorp, became a staple of US operations in the country following the overthrow of Jean Bertrand Aristide by CIA-backed death squads. When President Bush invaded Iraq, his administration radically expanded that program and turned it into the privatized paramilitary force it is today. At the time of his overthrow in 2004, Aristide was being protected by a San Francisco-based private security firm, the Steele Foundation.

What is unfolding in Haiti seems to be part of what Naomi Klein has labeled the “Shock Doctrine.” Indeed, on the Heritage Foundation blog, opportunity was being found in the crisis with a post titled: “Amidst the Suffering, Crisis in Haiti Offers Opportunities to the U.S.” “In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region,” wrote Heritage fellow Jim Roberts in a post that was subsequently altered to tone down the shock doctrine language. The title was later changed to: “Things to Remember While Helping Haiti.”